Cat and Mouse
by Chistarpax
Summary: They had consoled each other in what they thought would be their last moments. She survived, and it appeared that he had not. Months later, she hears his voice in her head and her eye has changed colors. With his help she finds the Autobots and discovers a world hidden in her own. Neither one of them know what will happen next, but they do know that they wont be alone. JazzxOC
1. Infused

So… uh… I got this idea… and then it just wouldn't leave me alone. How in the hell I'm going to keep four stories going at once is beyond me, but I'm gonna try! Anyway, this stories updates are going to be slow in the making. Considering each chapter is going to be eight or more pages long…

Enjoy it!

I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, FORM, OR FASHION. THIS STORY IS PURELY FOR ENJOYMENT AND I MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF ANYTHING I WRITE. (That disclaimer stands for all the later chapters too.)

~.~ ~.~

A scream tore through a young woman's throat as an explosion went off beside her. Within seconds she was airborne and hit a pole heavily, then fell to the ground. For several minutes she just lay there, feeling nothing, but hearing her bones grind against each other.

_This is it…_ She thought numbly. _At least mom and dad didn't have to watch me die…_

And she was correct; her parents had been in the center of the explosion. If she hadn't of been lagging behind because of a slightly twisted ankle, she would have died with them. The girl watched the sky; she had never noticed the brilliant blue it actually was. Too bad it took her death to bring these thoughts to her.

A body, much larger than her own and metal to boot, landed almost directly beside her. With a grimace at her grinding bones she looked over at it. She gasped when she saw that it was only the top half of a body. The young teen ground her teeth together and rolled over to crawl to the body.

"Don't… Don't you'll only kill yourself." A voice hissed; it was coming from the body.

"But… you're hurt." Hearing her voice so filled with pain made the young woman flinch.

"So are you… Don't there's nothing to be done." Hazel eyes met a blue visor after the statement was made.

"At least we… won't die alone." The woman gasped.

"You are… very accepting of… your death." The being responded in a voice filled with pain.

"When there is nothing left to you but death… your mind will accept anything…" The teen took a gasping breath. "What is your… name?"

"I'm Jazz… and you?"

"Catherine… My name is Catherine." She whispered and curled up on her side facing Jazz, where she could see his visor.

A pain filled chuckle surrounded the woman. "Thank you… Catherine."

"For what… Jazz?"

"For not letting me die alone…" The visor was fading and flickering.

Suddenly a wave of some type of energy swept over them, and Catherine felt her bones re-knit… But the bleeding would not stop.

"I thank you… Jazz…" Catherine whispered. "For not letting **me** die alone…"

And her eyes slid closed. Without warning her body began to glow, and her hand reached out on its own. Her fingers slid over a light within the chest of Jazz… and a bright flash followed. Twenty minutes later human paramedics and the Autobot medic arrived at the scene. The paramedics saw Catherine after the Autobot medic picked up the top half of Jazz…

"This girl is still alive!"

"Just barely, get a stretcher!"

One paramedic glanced at the alien doctor with a question upon his face. The medic shook his head solemnly.

"I offer you my condolences…" The paramedic stated quietly.

"Get her to a hospital… she will not last much longer if you do not." Ratchet replied just as quietly.

With only a nod, they parted.

~.~ Two months later ~.~

"Just recovered from major injuries and they are already harping on me about my math homework!" A young woman with ginger hair and hazel eyes that were greener than anything else sighed deeply.

She had survived Mission City, and she had somehow kept the conversation with the being known as Jazz a secret. She actually regretted leaving the poor mech to die alone. They had offered each other comfort in what they had thought to be their last moments.

"I don't understand this freakin' equation!" Catherine groaned and slumped against the back of the seat. "Stupid Algebra… how does putting the alphabet in with the numbers make sense?!"

_Hey now… just calm down and look at it again._

Catherine groaned again, but did just that. She glared at the equation, and still couldn't make sense of it.

_See the x… that's what you're looking for. Just take the other numbers and put them in the equation._

Catherine blinked, looked closer, and then smiled. Without a thought she picked up her pencil and did just as the voice stated…

Voice?

"Holy shit!" Catherine balked and dropped her pencil. "No… no, no, no… I am not losing my mind."

_You're not… you're just hearing me for the first time Cat._

"Where did you come from… when did you get in my head?!"

_I've been here since Mission City Cat._

Catherine stood up slowly and made her way to her dresser with a mirror. She stared at her reflection with a mixture of surprise, awe, and horror. Her right eye was no longer green-hazel… it was azure.

"Holy shit…"

_Don't freak Cat… I don't know what's going on either…_

"Don't freak?!" The woman shrieked. "I have a freakin' voice in my head, one of my eyes is the completely wrong color, and you're telling me not to freak?!"

_Do ya __**want**__ to let others know about this situation?_

That is the only thing that caused Catherine to freeze and then deflate.

"No…" She muttered.

_I thought so… and you don't have to answer me out loud Cat._

Catherine snorted and rolled her eyes. 'Yeah… well forgive me for being a bit unsettled by a **male** voice in my head… and you sound really familiar.'

_I would hope so… The name's Jazz. Or did you forget?_

Now the young woman's eyes widened and she stared at herself in the mirror. Her right eye was the same color that that mech's visor had been…

Was it possible that he hadn't died? Just transferred over to her body?

'Jazz… but I thought you died.'

_So did I, Cat… so did I._

Catherine nodded slowly, she was uncertain now. They were both barely clinging to life when they had met… and—as far as she knew—Jazz had actually died. Of course she didn't remember much after the conversation that they had shared, it had taken three days for her to be stabilized enough to wake up. And then an entire month before she could actually talk about what had happened, her grief had silenced her for that long.

'So… what are we going to do about this?'

_Not sure Cat… though I'm pretty sure 'hatchet would know what to do…_

'Hatchet?'

_Sorry… Ratchet, our medic._

Now Catherine paused, she had remembered only enough of what had happened to say that there were explosions everywhere during her time at Mission City. And she had made sure that nobody else knew about the conversation between her and Jazz.

'There are more of you?'

_Bunches more Cat._

Catherine stared at her reflection; she wasn't sure how to hide the sudden change of eye color. And she had school in the morning.

_Where do you go to school Cat?_

'Tranquility High… I'm a senior now.'

Jazz was quiet for several seconds. _Do you know a Sam Witwicky?_

'Who doesn't… he's the looser that is always getting picked on by the jocks…' Catherine sighed. 'I feel bad for him, but he avoids me like the plague. I don't even know why.'

_He's got contacts with the Autobots…_

Catherine nodded. 'So… in order to find this Ratchet, we need to speak to Sam.'

_Sounds like a plan to me… though finishing your homework is probably a good idea too._

Catherine grumbled and glared at the paper.

_Don't worry. I'll help you._ Jazz chuckled through her mind. _You know… you're rather accepting of this Cat._

"When faced with the unknown… human minds will accept the strangest of things."

_I've heard you say something like that before Cat._

'Only I was talking about death at the time.' Catherine sighed. 'Both times I was telling the truth… now how do you do this problem?'

_Simple, take that number…_

~.~ The next day ~.~

Catherine had stayed up late into the night not only discussing things with Jazz… but trying to figure out how to hide her eye color change. In the end she had only come up with wearing sunglasses and lost a large amount of sleep. But the teachers had made her take the sunglasses off… and then they had proceeded to ask if she had lost sight in her right eye. When the reply was 'no' the first three teachers had sent her to the nurse to get her eye checked. But then she had returned with 20/20 vision… so the teachers had just stopped sending her. And it seemed that everything was against her trying to get ahold of Sam that day.

'This is the worst day of school… ever.'

_I don't know what's going on Cat… but we need to talk to Sam._

'Well… he's getting into his Camaro now…'

_That's Bumblebee… another Autobot._

Catherine nodded slowly, now… how to get their attention. With a sigh she realized that she was going to have to play the idiot girl.

'This is going to hurt…'

_Don't do anything that could kill you Cat._

'Wouldn't dream of it… badly injured, yes… killed, no.' Catherine replied in her mind with a roll of her eyes and then stepped off the curb just as Sam was pulling around the corner.

The tires squealed and Catherine braced herself for impact. Not a second later her feet were swept out from under her and she landed on the hood heavily. The car was immediately put in park and Sam leapt out of the driver's seat.

"Oh my god! Are you okay Catherine?!" The boy asked in a rush of words that was almost unrecognizable.

_You idiot! That could have killed you!_

'Ah, but it didn't…' Catherine winced and glanced up at Sam… just before she felt as if she was surrounded by water.

"Whoa…" Catherine muttered and touched a hand to her head. "Must have hit harder than it felt…"

Sam actually shot the car a glare, only for the headlights to flash at him.

'_Bee just scanned you Cat._

'That's nice to know.'

"I'm taking you to a doctor." Sam stated, and then helped Catherine into the passenger's seat.

"I'll be fine Sam…" Catherine groaned.

"No… you need to come with me." Sam was staring at the scar on the underside of her right wrist now. "I think you need to see a doctor."

Catherine blinked up at him in confusion and then realized that her scar was uncovered. Ever since Mission City she had had that scar. It was left over from a burn and had taken the shape of a face. She reached up and pulled her sleeve back over the scar, but didn't argue with Sam any farther.

She really had hit her head pretty hard.

_Cat… I'm gonna kill you. That was the stupidest stunt I've ever seen…_

Catherine sighed inwardly and had to close her eyes as the world swam around her. Her head was hurting now.

'It got him to stop… didn't it?'

_Yeah… but now you get to go see 'hatchet._

'… that sounds rather threatening.'

_Cat… I don't know what to tell you._

'Sorry 'bout worrying you…'

_I should've come up with a plan Cat… one that didn't get you hit by a car._

'I didn't give you time to come up with a plan.' Catherine sighed and winced when her head throbbed. 'It's not a concussion… just a rather nasty headache.'

Jazz remained silent in the back of her head, but she could feel something akin to worry radiating from the corner he occupied. Catherine sighed, and then realized that Sam was just staring at her now.

"Hey… eyes on the road. I don't want to be in a freakin' wreck because you weren't paying attention." The girl ground out.

"I have a feeling that you know I wasn't driving anyway." Sam replied. "You were at Mission City… weren't you?"

If Catherine was to admit to herself that Sam had sounded more hopeful than curious, she would have spilled everything right there.

"That's where my parents died and I got hurt, Sam." Catherine replied quickly, refusing to even look at him. "So I'm pretty sure I was at Mission City when the shit hit the fan."

An outright laugh came from Jazz in the back of her mind, and a scowl covered Catherine's face. Sam blinked in slight confusion at the sudden change in expression, and was about to let it go…

**Penny for your thoughts?**

Catherine blinked in surprise and glanced at the radio. "Something wrong with your radio Sam?"

_Bee was trying to communicate with you Cat._

"Uh, no… just a slight glitch." Sam stuttered at her, all the while glaring at the radio.

**More to you… than meets the eye.**

Sam was now giving the radio a murderous glare, but Catherine sighed.

"Your name… it's Bumblebee, right?"

**Correct!**

Catherine flinched at the incredulous look that Sam was now shooting her.

_Way to go Cat, now just wait till he asks to tell him about me._

'You weren't kidding when you said that there were more of you.'

Catherine met Sam's eyes for the first time, and the boy jolted in surprise.

"I thought both of your eyes were hazel…" He muttered. "Did you go blind in the right one?"

"No, Sam, that's just a… side effect." Catherine huffed. "Do you know how many people have asked me that same question today?"

"Too many?"

"You bet… now explain to me what happened in Mission City, because I have a feeling that the government is hiding something." The girl stated.

_You know better than he does Cat._

Catherine rolled her eyes at Jazz's statement, and then groaned when she realized that Sam was now slightly freaked out by her actions.

"Do you hear voices in your head or something?" Sam asked rather bluntly.

Catherine gave Sam a tight smile. "You could say that."

**Explain.**

The girl glanced at the radio, and then sighed.

'How do I explain this Jazz?'

_Tell him what all you know Cat…_

'Gee… that's a lot of information that I have then.' She replied, her inner voice dripping with sarcasm.

"In Mission City… I was walking slightly behind my parents when the ground beneath them exploded… The explosion threw me backwards and into a pole. My bones were broken, and I had intense internal bleeding…" Catherine took a shaky breath. "A body—or the top half of a body—suddenly landed beside me."

Catherine's voice suddenly tried to lock up, the memories of the pain silencing her. Without warning the memories were suddenly pulled away and restrained.

'Thank you Jazz…'

_No problem Cat._

"I don't know why I did this, but I crawled over to the body, and we… talked." Her voice shook. "It was an alien, his name was Jazz…"

The car jolted and Catherine knew that she now had the full attention of both Sam and his guardian.

"We offered each other comfort in what we **thought **would be our last moments… But I survived and recovered—much quicker than the doctors thought I would." Catherine paused and regained control of her rampant emotions now. "Last night, while working on my Algebra, I was having trouble with a problem and a… voice suddenly helped me. I—naturally—freaked and became very…"

_Panicky?_ Jazz offered.

'Shut up you.'

"Unsettled…" Catherine's eyes rolled again at Jazz's amusement to the word she used. "It turns out that I now have the voice of Jazz in my head, we came up with a theory as to what happened, but we are still unsure."

**Let's hear it.**

Catherine sighed. "Jazz thinks that, when Sam fell with the Allspark in his hand, the resulting wave of energy washed over us. It healed my bones, and infused me with some of its energy… As Jazz's spark faded, after I was unconscious, something happened and Jazz's spark transferred to me."

"As a last ditch effort to survive..." A voice filtered through the speakers, it sounded as if it pained him to speak. "Sparks will do that if the conditions are right."

_Tell him that he doesn't need to be using his voice until 'hatchet gets it completely fixed._

"Jazz says not to use your voice until Ratchet gets it completely fixed." Catherine deadpanned.

_Gee Cat, can you sound any unhappier?_

'Jazz… I don't think that they really believe me.'

_I think they do Cat._

Catherine glanced at Sam, who was staring at her like she had grown a second head.

**Is that why… Change in color… eye?**

"Yeah… it happened last night when I actually heard Jazz's voice for the first time." Catherine sighed. "On a scale of one to ten, how weird is this entire situation? Ten being the weirdest and one being not weird at all."

Sam quickly gave the answer of ten, and Bumblebee gave the reply of eight. Jazz laughed from the corner of Catherine's mind that he occupied, which in turn caused Catherine to smirk, which in turn made Sam ask more questions. After twenty minutes they had arrived at the 'look out' where a rescue hummer was sitting.

_That's 'hatchet, by the way Cat._

Catherine was suddenly filled with dread; she had developed a healthy respect for doctors after the injuries caused in Mission City.

'He's not going to squish me or anything… is he?'

_No Cat, he won' squish ya._

Before Catherine could even step out of Bumblebee, the hummer was twisting into a new form. Soon there was a two story robot standing in front of the Camaro.

Catherine really wanted to just stay in the car now.

_Come on Cat, no need to avoid this._

'Fine, but if I get squished, I blame you.'

Jazz chuckled at her irritation, only fueling said feeling more. But she climbed out of Bumblebee anyway… just a bit cautiously.

"I remember you… you were the human that was found near Jazz's body." Ratchet muttered the moment he got a good look at her. "Bumblebee has informed me of some… interesting details about you."

_Tell 'hatchet to stop trying to scare you Cat. It won't do any good._

"Jazz says that you need to stop trying to scare me, it won't do any good… Oh, and he says 'Heya Hatchet'." Catherine deadpanned once again.

'Really, Heya Hatchet?'

_I'm one of three mechs that called him that… he'll know it's me now._

'…'

_Come on Cat, give me some credit._

Ratchet was staring at her now, almost as if…

"Tell that slagging idiot that he has quite a bit of explaining to do."

"I don't have to **tell** him… he can hear you." Catherine sighed, and then flinched at the sudden irritation coming from Jazz's corner of her mind.

_Tell 'hatchet that I would explain if I knew what happened, so just lay off._

"Jazz says that he would explain if he knew what happened, so just lay off." Catherine replied immediately, without pausing. "Wait… did you mean for him to lay off of **me** or off of **you**?"

Catherine was being studied very carefully; she didn't realize that she was responding to Jazz aloud now.

_I meant for him to lay off of you, after all… you are the one that would be getting the lecture._

"I don't know if that's a good thing or if that's a bad thing Jazz."

_Could go either way Cat._

"You are really Confusing, I hope you realize that." Catherine grumbled.

_I'm confusing? Cat, have you ever looked at your own mind?_

"I never felt the need to, no… though I suppose that I probably should look at my own thought processes now that I have a **voice** in my head." The woman snapped.

_I apologize… but you really do need to look at yourself before you make statements like that._

"Says the **voice**."

_I have a name Cat._

"Whatever Jazz, don't point out that a female's mind is confusing unless you **want **Armageddon knocking at your door."

_I don't have a door Cat. And your mind is the most confusing thing I've ever seen._

"You're the one that decided to look!"

_And I suppose you have a better idea to keep me from being bored._

That caused Catherine to pause in her anger and become curious. "What do you mean?"

_I can't sleep Cat… not while my spark is in your body._

"Oh… so… you studied my thought processes while I was sleeping?"

_Yeah… what is a 'dream'?_

"Something that human minds create while we sleep… sometimes it's a memory, sometimes it's a fear that we have tried to hide or don't even know we have." She glanced up at the sky. "Why do you ask?"

_You were having one last night… though it was more of a 'nightmare.'_

"That would be one of the dreams that stem from a fear then… what happened in it?"

Catherine was now completely oblivious to her audience, and Jazz was just as oblivious.

_You were running from something that you couldn't see… but you knew that it wanted to hurt you._

"That would be the fear of the unknown, Jazz, paired with my paranoia."

Ratchet decided that then was a perfect time to regain Catherine's attention.

"As interesting as hearing one side of the conversation you are having is, it is also rather unsettling." The medic stated evenly. "Please stop."

Catherine jumped and blinked at Ratchet in surprise, then groaned. "I was speaking out loud… wasn't I?"

_You were?_

'Shut up you.'

_It was just a question Cat._

"Yes, you were. Now, you will need to come with us to see Optimus." Ratchet stated and transformed, then popped open his door. "Get in."

Catherine stared at the open door.

'Who's Optimus?'

_He's the boss bot… don't worry Cat, 'Hatchet and the others won't hurt you._

'Once again, Jazz, that somehow doesn't calm my sudden pounding heart.' But she hesitantly climbed into the rescue hummer. The moment she was seated, the seatbelt snapped over her and Ratchet drove off.

~.~ ~.~

So, there we have it. Human woman with a spark trapped inside of her. I didn't state her full name in this chapter, so here it is: Catherine Jean McFaye.

Review please, I really want to know if it sounds good. :)

Until all are one.

~Chistarpax


	2. Knowledge

I just couldn't decide if the flow of this chapter is what I wanted it to be or not. Hence why it's taken so long to get it out. I've been working on it for a few weeks now….

In the end I realized that it was great the way it was.

So, yeah… here's the new chapter guys!

~.~ ~.~

Catherine stared at the Peterbuilt 379, and desperately wanted to die. This truck had met Ratchet on the way to wherever it was that they were going. At first it had been rather content to travel at the back of the line, behind Bumblebee. But then Ratchet had grumbled something about 'leaders needing to **lead**' and the truck had grudgingly taken the lead. Catherine had been informed that the truck was Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, by Jazz. And then Jazz had decided to tell her all about Optimus.

'So, let me get this straight… your leader did not want to be a leader but was chosen anyway by the 'council' to lead... and has done so ever since?'

_That's right Cat…_

'Couldn't he have just said 'no'… I understand that the idea that he didn't want to be the leader would make him a great leader… but he could have still refused, right?'

_You see… The council acts on the will of Primus… so Op didn't have a choice._

'Who the hell is Primus?'

… _Primus is our version of your 'God'._

'Ah, gotcha. So he was chosen by your deity, therefore couldn't refuse even though he wanted to.'

_You got it Cat._

Catherine nodded absently. She was learning so much from just talking to Jazz, curiosity was now getting the best of her.

_You know… if you want to learn about us I __**can**__ show you instead of telling you._

Curiosity and excitement sparked in Catherine's mind and eyes. 'How?'

_Just watch… I'll let you see some of my memories._

Catherine's eyes widened as she was shown images and feelings, thoughts and sounds. Overall it was the most amazing thing she had ever experienced. Buildings made of metal shot through her sight, she felt dwarfed, though she knew she was seeing it from Jazz's point of view.

'The buildings are so…'

_Yeah, it was always like that, Cat, I was one of the shorter ones._

'Wow…'

_Your planet is more alive though, there was nothing else but us on our planet, us and a few Cybercats._

'Cybercat?'

An image flashed in front of Catherine's eyes and they widened in awe. It looked like a deadly metal cat, but she could see the intelligence.

_That one is Ravage… he works for the Decepticons._

Catherine nodded as images of the Decepticons flashed through her mind. It was exhilarating to learn this way.

"Catherine?" Ratchet questioned, stopping the flood of information.

"Yes Ratchet?"

The medic paused. "You were staring off into space and your eyes had glazed over. Are you alright?"

_Go ahead and tell him Cat._

"Jazz was showing me what your planet looked like, Cybertron, right?" Catherine thanked Jazz silently after he supplied the planet's name.

"Ah, though I suppose he was showing Cybertron from before the war." Ratchet said absently.

Jazz showed her what the planet had looked like afterwards, and Catherine was filled with deep sorrow for a planet not her own. It was her sorrow, not caused by the sadness that Jazz felt. The bright silver metal and smooth glass that the planet had been was dingy and broken in these memories… there were also harsher feelings and sounds to come with them. Her own heart ached for the loss of such beauty.

'Why?'

_Megatron wanted power, Cat… _Jazz's voice was touched with sorrow and anger. _He wanted that power so much that he was willing to ruin our planet for it._

'What did you do… before and during the war?'

Now Jazz shrunk to the back of her mind… he didn't want her to know.

'You don't have to tell me Jazz.' She quickly stated once she felt his reluctance. 'If it means that much to you, I won't push.'

_Thank you, Cat… it's not that I don't want you to know… I'm just not sure how you would react to the knowledge._

'Then don't tell me Jazz.' Catherine's inner voice warmed, and she smiled outwardly. 'I think I want to get to know you just a bit better though… since we are going to be stuck together for who knows how long.'

Jazz's laughter surrounded the woman's thoughts and she found herself laughing with him… much to Ratchet's annoyance.

"This is the most frustrating thing I have ever put up with!" The medic finally snapped. "How in the pit am I supposed to tell if anything is wrong with either one of you if I can't talk to one of you without the other relaying the words for me?!"

_Ask 'hatchet if 'Jack is on planet for me._

"Jazz would like to know if 'Jack is on the planet…"

Confused silence filled the air.

_Slaggit… his name is Wheeljack… I need to remember you don't know the others._

"Wheeljack… he meant for me to ask about Wheeljack." Catherine sighed.

'Please remember that from now on Jazz….'

"We received a message that Wheeljack is going to be landing soon… Wheeljack and Perceptor both!" Ratchet suddenly sounded excited. "We might be able to find a way for Jazz to communicate with us without you having to relay the words Catherine!"

_That was slightly creepy…_

'What was Jazz?'

'_Hatchet was excited… normally that doesn't happen unless he is talking about welding a mech to the ceiling._

'… Speaking from experience?'

_Maybe…_

Catherine grinned at his answer, and then started laughing almost uncontrollably when Jazz shared that particular memory. Which in turn caused Ratchet to ask why she was once again laughing, and then add his own commentary to the event; Catherine had not laughed this much in so long she thought her sides were going to burst.

After another rather quiet hour of driving, they arrived at what Catherine would have called an overprotected building if it wasn't for the fact that she was asleep. She had conked out about twenty minutes after the conversation that left her crying from laughter.

Therefore most of the ride had been very quiet. Ratchet would mutter to himself every now and then, but other than that… it was a very quiet ride.

"Catherine…"

The woman didn't move. According to the scans that Ratchet was doing, she was most definitely asleep.

"Catherine…" Ratchet was trying to be gentle about it, but she needed to wake up now. "Catherine, you need to wake up."

She muttered something that sounded like 'five more minutes' and Ratchet gave an annoyed sigh.

_Hey Cat! Rise and shine, we've got things to do!_

Jazz bellowing in Catherine's head made the woman jolt upright and look around in a panic. She sat there practically gasping for breath before a scowl covered her face and she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Jazz, I swear to god I will end you if you ever do that again." The red haired woman growled.

"What did he do?"

To her credit, Catherine only glanced around in a renewed panic before fixing the radio with a glare after she had calmed herself down again.

"Can we please not play 'Scare Catherine' just after I wake up? It throws me off." She replied smoothly. "And he shouted at me to wake up."

Ratchet was quiet for several seconds.

"I apologize for startling you, but you did indeed need to wake up. You did not respond when I tried, so I am going to assume that Jazz woke you up for me." The medic sighed with annoyance plain in his voice.

_We're here Cat._

'Where is here Jazz?' Catherine closed her eyes and grimaced, now she had a headache.

_Autobot basecamp so to speak. Get ready for more questions and not being able to leave until Ratchet says you can._

'Autobot basecamp? What kind of a group are you?'

_Military… kinda forced military for most of us actually._

'Forced military.'

_Civil war, where the other side was going to try and wipe out the rest of them even though they hadnt done anything to them._

'The Decepticons?'

_Yeah, they wanted to wipe out the Autobots no matter what._

Catherine didn't know what to say, she thought it was horrible. But there were no words to explain how bad she felt for them. She didn't pity them, she just… could empathize somewhat.

Ratchet sighed as they passed through about ten security points surrounded by armed men with guns and a high security fence.

"What, do they think that the… Decepticons will take one of your forms and hold a human hostage just to get in?" Catherine asked after the last checkpoint. "From what I've heard that's just not their style."

"You sound like Jazz." Ratchet groused.

Catherine shrugged and studied the buildings that they were approaching. There was a black Ford Topkick approaching them with a silver Corvette following close behind, and that wasn't even the best part. No, neither vehicle had a driver.

"Ironhide and Sideswipe. Optimus told them to wait at the hangar… apparently they didn't want to." Ratchet stated emotionlessly. "Fragging pains in the aft."

_Don't mind him, they probably just wanted to see if Optimus was telling the truth._

'Figures.'

_Come on 'Cat… it's not that bad._

'You aren't the one that they are suspicious of.'

_No, but I have been there before 'Cat._

'What?'

_That's a story for another time 'Cat, time to talk._

'Talk? Talk to who about what?'

"Catherine, you'll need to step out. I have to transform." Ratchet stated with an edge of irritation to his voice.

The woman stared at the dash before realizing that she had been talking to Jazz for several minutes and that they had stopped in front of one of the buildings already.

"Oh… ehm, sorry. Getting out now." She fumbled for words while silently cursing Jazz for distracting her.

She hopped out of Ratchet and took several steps back as he transformed and she was looking up at a being that was two stories tall. The sound of a second and a third transformation brought Catherine's attention to a black and silver mech who were walking up behind her at the moment.

_That's just Ironhide and Sideswipe._

'Just Ironhide and Sideswipe… they are tall as hell and terrifying.' Catherine replied quickly.

"So this is the human woman?" The black one stated. "She doesn't look like much."

"Hey now!" Catherine snapped, her patience was wearing thin. "I am standing right here and have no idea what in the hell is going on! So please cut me a bit of slack mister tall, dark, and imposing!"

Everything froze as Catherine's words sunk in. Even she seemed to be mortified by her outburst.

"I like her, she's got spunk." The one that Catherine had snapped at finally chuckled.

"Yeah, mister tall, dark, and imposing." The silver one grinned. "I'm Sideswipe, that's Ironhide. Optimus said your name was Catherine?"

"Yeah, it is. I don't know what in the hell just happened but I would appreciate if nobody tried to scare me for at least a week. Having a voice appear in your head is bad enough without having to find out a government secret that includes giant mechs and military bases to go with it. Please, for the love of god, lay off." Catherine snapped.

_Tell 'swipe that I agree with everything I just said… and call him 'swipe just so he knows it's me._

'What in the hell is wrong with you people!? 'Swipe? Really?'

_Just do it Catherine._

'Fine.'

"Jazz said that you need to back off a bit… 'Swipe. He agrees that I've been through enough for now."

'Happy now?'

_Thank you 'Cat._

"Alright, I'll leave her alone." Sideswipe laughed. "Good to know you're still alive, Jazz. I've been hoping my commander was still around."

_Tell him to shove it and that when I get back to my body I am going to kick his aft._

"He says shove it and that when he gets his body back he's going to kick your… aft?"

That sent Sideswipe into a fit of laughter, which caused Catherine to roll her eyes and turn back to Ratchet. Only to be met with yet another, much taller mech that made her feel like an ant.

"I am Optimus Prime."

"I can see why you're the leader of the bunch." Catherine stated, her brain-to-mouth filter failing her at that exact moment.

Meaning that she was suddenly ridiculously embarrassed and fumbling for words again.

"I mean… uhm… yeah. Hi, I'm Catherine McFaye."

Optimus only looked bemused at her sudden inability to form a coherent sentence, and nodded to her.

"Ratchet has informed me that you have a rather interesting predicament."

"Interesting is one word for it." Catherine muttered. "If you call having the life-force of another being trapped inside of your body and having him pretty much sharing your mind interesting."

Optimus chuckled, and then kneeled down to offer her his hand.

"I will not harm you, nor will any of my mechs." He stated soothingly. "I swear that you are safe here."

Catherine stared at Optimus and then glanced at his hand before sighing and gently sitting in it. She was by no means calmed down at all, but there wasn't much else she could do and Optimus seemed to be safer than the rest. So that's the option she went with.

"Can someone please just explain what is going on here and what it has to do with me?" Catherine asked in a somewhat pitiful voice, and then glared at her stomach when it growled. "And is there anything I can eat… I'm starving."

"I am sure we can find something for you." Optimus chuckled. "Ironhide, can you contact Major Lennox and have him come to the medical bay with some food for Catherine?"

"Right away Optimus." Ironhide saluted and walked away.

"Sideswipe, I need you to patrol the perimeter. Make sure that we were not followed."

"Sir!" Sideswipe saluted, transformed, and sped away.

Catherine watched as both mechs departed, and then looked up at Optimus himself.

"I am going to assume that Jazz is able to hear what is said?"

"Yeah, his constant commentary can be distracting." Catherine grinned.

_I'm not that bad 'Cat._

'Trying to concentrate Jazz.'

"It is good to know that he survived, though the method of survival is not one we would have foreseen."

_Who would have foreseen a spark being able to enter a human body? Seriously Op, quit blaming yourself._

"Open quote 'who would have foreseen a spark being able to enter a human body? Seriously Op, quit blaming yourself' end quote." Catherine stated with the same amount of irritation in her voice that Jazz had used.

"It is good to know that you survived, Jazz." Optimus repeated with a smile.

Catherine rolled her eyes and surveyed the building that Optimus had carried her into. It was lined with very large beds along one wall while the other wall had cabinets large enough for the mechs to use.

"I take it this is the medical bay?" She stated cautiously.

"Yes, do not worry. Ratchet only wishes to run a few scans to make sure that there are not adverse side effects of having a spark within you." Optimus stated simply.

"So… no needles or poking or prodding?" Catherine asked hopefully.

"No, there will be none of those." The large mech sighed.

The woman visibly relaxed and a smile lit up her features. Ratchet, who had entered the room behind Optimus, chuckled to himself and motioned for Optimus to place Catherine on the counter.

"You will feel as if you are underwater with each scan, don't be alarmed. It will only last until the scan is finished and then the feeling will be gone." The medic explained. "Once I have finished the scans I'll have Bumblebee take you to Major Lennnox's office where there is nourishment waiting for you. I believe he said that he has a cheeseburger and fries waiting for you."

"I'll do whatever you need me to do to make this go faster." Catherine quickly stated, she was hungry and her mouth had started watering at the mention of a cheeseburger.

"You only need to stand still." Ratchet grinned. "It'll take a few minutes and then you'll be on your way to food."

"You know the way to a girls heart Ratchet." Catherine laughed playfully, and then stood very still as Ratchet began to run his scans.

After ten minutes and countless scans, Catherine was being carried out of the medical bay by Bumblebee. Her mood had improved greatly just knowing that Jazz's spark being inside of her didn't cause her any harm at all. That and she knew that she was going to be getting food now. She hadn't eaten at all, and it was approximately five o'clock in the afternoon. She was hungry.

"So… is Lennox nice?" She finally had to ask.

Bumblebee nodded in confirmation before placing her on a walkway just in front of a door.

"In there?" Catherine motioned to the door.

"Yes, don't worry. He won't try to scare you." Bumblebee replied in his own voice.

"Should you really be using your voice?" Catherine asked with true concern. "I mean… doesn't it hurt you to talk?"

"It does, but if I don't speak with my own voice my voice modulator will not get any better." Bumblebee sighed. "Just don't tell Ratchet please."

"It's our little secret." Catherine winked. "See you around."

Bumblebee grinned, nodded, and walked away.

_You're making friends._ Jazz stated cheerfully.

'I figured that I'm going to be stuck here, so why not?'

_That's a good attitude to have about it. And the four mechs to definitely make your friends are already there so you're doing good._

'Which four?'

_Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Bumblebee._

'Gotcha, food and most likely interrogation time.' Catherine laughed back, she squared her shoulders and placed a grin on her face before knocking on the door in front of her.

"Come in!"

Catherine took a deep breath and opened the door. She paused long enough to take in her surroundings before studying the man sitting behind the desk. He was slightly taller than her with brown hair and a welcoming smile.

"You're Catherine McFaye right?" He stated after glancing at a piece of paper in front of him.

"Yep, I take it that the file in front of you is mine?" She grinned and took a seat in front of the desk like he had motioned for her to do.

"Yes. You were at Mission City?" Lennox placed a fast food bag in front of her and sat back.

"That is true." Catherine attacked the bag with the manners of a tiger attacking a gazelle.

"And… you have Jazz's spark inside of you?" Lennox was watching her with wide eyes.

"Yep, trust me, it threw me for a loop too." Catherine took a messy bite of her burger.

"Okay, do you have any combat training?"

"Two years of karate." She didn't care about manners at that moment. She was hungry.

"That's better than I thought. Any weapons training?" Lennox sighed, though there was a grin starting to form on his face.

"I went to the range with my dad a couple of times. I can hit a bulls eye from 40 yards and can switch clips faster than most of the guys on the force in Tranquility." Catherine finished off her fries and sat back.

"And you have a healthy appetite. How long did it take you to finish off that burger?"

"Five minutes." Catherine grinned at him. "Including the time it took me to eat the fries. I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"Nice." Lennox sat back with a full blown smile. "So you were at Mission City when the shit hit the fan, somehow got the spark of an Autobot stuck inside of you, and have plenty of weapons training?"

"That about sums me up."

"How old are you exactly?"

"Twenty, I missed a year of school because of the Mission City accident." Now Catherine began to fidget uncomfortably.

Lennox was quiet for several seconds before he sighed and nodded. "I have a feeling you know that we are going to be keeping you here on base. If you want we can continue with your schooling, but you seem intelligent enough for us to go ahead and get you your high school degree and then we can set up online college courses for you to take. All expenses paid if you want, and we can further any training you might need. Our goal is to keep you safe."

"You mean keep Jazz safe." Catherine scowled.

"No, I mean keep **you** safe." Lennox stated seriously. "You are now considered one of the human contacts. I hope you don't mind if we assign you a guardian as well."

Catherine sat very still before nodding slowly.

"One of the human contacts?" She finally ventured.

"Yeah, one of us humans that know about the Autobots. The Decepticons would attack you on sight, whether you have Jazz's spark in you or not." Lennox leaned forward. "You're not military, but you know about them. Not only that but you've kept their secret since you found out about them. You have, inadvertently, protected them. Therefore you are a human contact and the Decepticons will do their best to either capture you for information or kill you. That's why we are worried about keeping **you** safe. Yeah, you have the spark of an Autobot inside of you, but that doesn't really matter to us. Whether you have that inside of you or not doesn't count, you are one of us now. And we are going to make sure that **you** are safe."

_They do care that I'm alive. But the point he's trying to make is that your life counts just as much if not more than mine._ Jazz clarified for Catherine. _You are more important than you think. Any human can be sworn to secrecy, but you didn't need to do that to keep the secret safe. You did so out of your own free will, and that means more to them than you know._

Catherine was numb, she didn't think that her choice to not tell anyone had really been that big of a deal. Who would have believed her? But apparently that did matter.

"Thank you Major." She finally muttered.

"Call me Will, I'll have Sideswipe take you to your room. If you want we can get your stuff from your house for you."

"You mean the foster home." Catherine stated quietly. "My stuff is at the foster home, I have no family members."

Lennox froze and stared at her, before nodding slowly. "Yeah… we'll take care of all the legal stuff for you. Okay?"

"Thank you." Catherine smiled warmly, a true smile that even reflected in her eyes. "Thank you Will."

"No problem. Now you probably need some rest." Lennox returned her smile. "You've had a long day."

"Yeah." Catherine laughed, then stood up and left the room. She stood outside on the walkway for a few seconds before letting her smile drop and her chin rest on her chest.

_Catherine?_

'I'm fine Jazz. Just… overwhelmed.' Catherine blinked back the tears in her eyes. 'I didn't want to remind myself about how I don't have parents or family members.'

_Hey, you got me._

Catherine laughed, though there were now tears trailing down her face.

'I'm sorry Jazz… I just… I miss them, I miss my parents.'

_Everyone misses their lost loved ones, 'Cat. But trust me, you've just gained too many more to count._

'Thank you.' Catherine looked up at the sky with a true smile. 'Seriously, thank you Jazz.'

_No problem 'Cat._

Catherine shook her head and stared out at the base that had somehow become her home. She decided that she could learn to like it. Who knew, maybe Jazz was right.

Either way, it felt like she had finally found where she could fit in.

~.~ ~.~

Thoughts? Ideas? Feelings? Review please guys! Feedback keeps me going! XD

Until all are one,

Chistarpax


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